Structure for educational and recreative purposes.



F. A. PRIDIVIORE.

STRUCTURE FOR EDUCATIONAL AND RECREATIVE PURPOSES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28, 19H1.A

Patented Apr. 27, 1915.

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FRANK ANDREWS PBIDMORE, LGNDCN, ENGLAND.

STRCTURE FOR EDUCATIONAL AND RECRATIVE PURPOSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aipr. 2*?, 1915.

Application filed May 28, 1914. l Serial No. 841,630.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK ANDREWS PRID- MORE,subject of the King of England, residing at London, in England, haveinvented a certain new andl useful Structure for Educational andRecreative Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to structures of sub-` stantially spherical formfor educational and recreative purposes,`the exterior of the structurebeing made to represent the oceans and continents of the world on alargescale, while the interior serves to accommodate various exhibits and thelike. ln such structures hitherto proposed the shell or sphere has beenintended to rotate relatively to stationary platforms disposed within itor the platforms have been rotary and the sphere stationary. v

According to this invention the whole structure is stationary and theinterior contains just below the crust or covering one or more tracks,corridors or railways, preferably starting from some point in theNorthern Hemisphere and ending at the South Pole, this track goingaround the sphere several times in such a way as to enable passengers orpedestrians to visit the chief places of interest on the vroute followedby the track which is made to touch various continents, countries ortowns represented by the map of the world borne by the eX- terior of thesphere. Preferably the structure is formed from a network or shell ofgirders in such a way that these members constitute the lines oflatitude and longitude, the ties or internal supporting members being soarranged as to interfere as little as possible with the space within thesphere. The network or shell iskprovided with a covering of glassor someother transparent material to represent-,the seas and oceans and withopaque material to represent the various continents and islands, thewhole being so arranged as to be an accurate representation to scale ofthe earth and the various continents and oceans.

rlhe whole structure is preferably supported in such a manner that theinclination of the poles of the globe is similar to that of `the polesof the earth. ln this way the South Pole will not be directly under theground and will be visible from below. Those portions of the coveringrepresenting The actual poles and magnetic poles also will be indicatedon the exterior of the sphere and the chief lines of communicationbetween various places or countries whether by land or water,"would bemarked and in some cases cable lines also indicated.

The size ofthe structure will naturally vary but it ispreferably made ofsuch dimensions asl to enable a large number of inland towns and portstobe satisfactorily indicated. The base of the sphere is preferably sunkin the ground to an extent to hide the foundation of the structure butnot so as to interfere with the South Pole which would be readily seenby persons walking about below thesphere. 1f desired, however, buildingsmay be provided on the ground around the base of the globe to preventpersons passing below the overhanging portions of the latter, thesebuildings containing refreshment rooms, side-shows, eX- hibits or thelike. lf the structure were built to a scale of half an inch to a mileits diameter would be about three hundred and thirty feet and its heightthree hundred and ten feet.' Alternatively the globe may be built to ascaleof one inch to three miles, in which case its height would be abouttwo hundred and seven feet.

So far the-exterior appearance of the structure has been described andfrom this description it will be seen that the structure would 'be of'aneducational and scientific nature since it would indicate on a largescale and in an accurate manner the relative positionsV of the variouscontinents, the routes by which various places and continents arereached and other lines of coinvnlunication such as cable lines and thelike.

Thus scope will be given by such a structure to various transport andcable companies to indicate to everyone outside the structure the routesalong which their systems extend.

-the relative positions of the continents and oceans, inother words theinner surface of the glass or other transparent material representingthe sea forms a means for lighting and Ventilating the interior of thesphere, while the opaque portions as before represent to the correctscale the various countries. Y

Preferably a suitable number of lifts or n elevators will be providedwithin the sphere,

as in previous structures, to convey passengers to the top of the sphereor in the present instance to the point at which the track orcorridorcommences. If desired, two Vor more parallel tracks may be formed, bothpreferably immediately inside the covering or Vcrust one lof thesetracks serving as a 'path for pedestrians, another constituting say, aslowly moving platform with or preferably be constructed at places ofinterest in the length of the route and at each stopping place therewould be provided a showroom, exhibition or museum giving ex- Y amplesof the characteristics of the country or place at which the stop -Wasmade and fulfilling an educational, scienticor advertising purpose. Suchdepots would be controlled by the country, colony or town which theyrepresented and the exhibits therein would constitute a permanentindication of the leading characteristics of the district or placerepresented. In addition to the track. moving pathway or railway abovedescribed the sphere would contain, preferably in the upper portionthereof and below the North Pole, a large concert hall, skating rink orlike assembly room, while further, there would be ample space within theinterior for lecture rooms, trade exhibits and the numerousrecreativeside-shows as well as scientiiic and educational exhibits such as areusually foundat exhibitions. Y

The construction will allow persons to walk on the surface of the globeat the North Pole where a -wireless installation could conveniently beerected andl messages sent to different parts of the country or tosub-stations within the sphere representing wireless stations indifferent parts of the world. The ground below the sphere at the SouthPole would be made to represent the surroundings in that locality andexhibits wouldbe arranged of polar expeditions and of geological andotherV specimens which such expeditions have discovered. At night 'theglobe would be suitably illuminated both from within and on the exteriorthereen, the'outlines of continents andv the prinfrom some point in theNorthern Hemisphere and ending at the South Pole is a corridor Dprovided with two tracks E, E carrying rails for a slow moving cai` Fand -a rapidly moving car F respectively.

The outer crust of the globe is composed of some opaque material torepresent the continents and by glass or other transparent material torepresent the oceans, the inner wall G of the corridor being providedwith well drawn panoramic maps, scenery or the like to indicate thecountry through which the passengers are supposed to be passing. At theNorth Pole the wireless installation H is preferably provided and askating rink may be formed on the llat portion around the pole. Accessto the interior of the globe can 'be made through suitable entrances Jwhere lifts K convey visitors to the upper portion of the globedvhich isconveniently in the form of a skating rink, concert hall or otherassembly room indicated at L in Fig. l. As shown by Fig. 1 of thedrawings the south magnetic pole is indicated at M and the South Pole ifdesired may be rendered visible from below if the axis of the globe isgiven the proper inclination as illustrated. rlhe globe need notnecessarily have its axis inclined, if the nature of the internalframework renders this difficult. The internal girders are in all casespreferably arranged so as to interfere as little as possible with thefree space within the structure.

The steam ship routes, cable lines, lighthouses, important towns, etc.,are preferably indicated in the manner already referred to and theinterior is utilized in any of the various ways previously mentioned tosuit different requirements.

It will be appreciated that the exterior .can be put to almost limitlessuse while,

within the globe are housed the educational, scientific, commercial andrecreativo features which are usually'found in any exhibition. Further,though preferably immediately beneath the crust or covering of thesphere, the track, pathway or railway may follow a sinuous paththroughout the entire interior of the sphere serving as a means ofcommunication between the various exhibits and in this way increasingthe length of the journey. Such an arrangement could be usefullyemployed in the case of a scenic or other raiiway intended mainly forrecreative purposes.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent isl. ln a structure for educational and recreative purposes, thecombination of a supporting framework, a substantially spherical casingtherefor comprising transparent sections representing the oceans andseas and opaque sections representing the continents and islands of theworld, a corridor extending around the sphere immediately within saidcasing, and a wall adjacent to the inner side of said corridor, for thepurpose described.

2. ln a structure for educational and recreative purposes, thelcombination of a supporting framework, a spherical casing thereforhaving transparent sections representing the oceans and seas and opaquesections representing the continents and islands, the axis of saidcasing being inclined to represent the poles of the earth, and a sinuouscorridor extending from top to bottom 0f the sphere immediately withinthe casing, and a wall adjacent to the inner side of said corridor, forthe purpose described.

3. ln a structure for educational and recreative purposes, thecombination of a supporting framework, a spherical casing thereforhaving transparent sections representing the oceans and seas, opaquesections representing the continents and islands, and an inclined axisrepresenting the poles of the earth, a sinuous corridor extending fromtop to bottom of the sphere immediately within the casing, and a chamberbelow the South Pole, for the purpose described.

L In a structure for educational and recreative purposes, thecombination of a supporting framework of spherical outline, and asubstantially spherical casing for said framework comprising transparentsections representing the oceans and seas and opaque sectionsrepresenting the continents and islands of the world, the girders ofsaid framework being arranged to indicate the lines of longitude andlatitude.

5. In a structure for educational and recreative purposes, thecombination of a supporting framework of spherical outline, asubstantially spherical outer casing for said framework comprisingtransparent material to represent the oceans and seas and opaquematerial to represent the continents and islands of the world, thelongitudinal and transverse girders of said supporting frameworkindicating the lines of longitude and latitude, and a track carried bysaid framework and extending around the sphere several times immediatelywithin the casing.

6. In a stationary structure for educational and recreative purposes,the combination of a supporting framework constituting a spherical cageor basket, a substantially spherical outer casing for said frameworkcomprising transparent sections representing the oceans and seas andopaque sections representing the continents and islands of the world,Vthe girders of said supporting framework being arranged to indicate thelines of latitude and longitude, and a plu- -ality of concentric trackscarried by said framework and extending around the sphere several timesimmediately within the casing.

ln testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

l FRANK ANDREWS PRIDMORE.

Witnesses:

R. H. Haanrss, G. NEWMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ive cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner ot Patents, Washington, D. C.

